Batavia cover art

Batavia

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Batavia

By: Peter FitzSimons
Narrated by: Richard Aspel
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About this listen

The story begins in 1629, when the pride of the Dutch East India Company, the Batavia, is on its maiden voyage en route from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies, laden down with the greatest treasure to leave Holland. The magnificent ship is already boiling over with a mutinous plot that is just about to break into the open when, just off the coast of Western Australia, it strikes an unseen reef in the middle of the night.

While Commandeur Francisco Pelsaert decides to take the long-boat across 2000 miles of open sea for help, his second-in-command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes over, quickly deciding that 250 people on a small island is unwieldy for the small number of supplies they have. Quietly, he puts forward a plan to 40 odd mutineers how they could save themselves, kill most of the rest and spare only a half-dozen or so women, including his personal fancy, Lucretia Jansz - one of the noted beauties of Holland - to service their sexual needs. A reign of terror begins, countered only by a previously anonymous soldier Wiebbe Hayes, who begins to gather to him those are prepared to do what it takes to survive...

©2011 Peter FitzSimons (P)2011 Bolinda Publishing Armed Forces Engineering Expeditions & Discoveries Historical Military Naval Forces World

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All stars
Most relevant
I had not heard of the Batavia, and was fascinated by the tale of mutiny, shipwrecks, murder, even war between surviors follows by rescue and justice. This story has something for you all. fThe story is read very well with good pronunciations.

An unknown but fascinating story

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Rarely have I experienced a fabulous story quite brilliantly narrated. The narrator brings this fascinating research to real life, living every moment throughout. For me, this is the best of the best.

Brilliant !!!! A must read.

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A dramatised retelling of the harrowing story of the Batavia. I felt his additional parts to help flesh out the story were mostly welcome additions, and helped add some depth to people we knew very little about like Cornelis the Fat Trumpeter.

History with a bit of fictional flavour

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Incredible story. Really well told. Amazing insight into just how depraved man can be. Slow to start, but stick with it; middle and end is brilliant.

Unbelievable story

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Great story, nicely written, thoroughly enjoyed it! Narrator's pace is good and the narration is clear, but - was it really not possible to get the Dutch words pronounced correctly? Not a single Dutch word was said right, most were absolutely butchered.

Enjoyed it

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